'Miss Marple' Rant: Jennifer Garner Is Not a Spinster

UPDATE:Either the Christie estate is listening to its disgruntled fans, or Disney spoke too soon. Deadline reports that the company that owns the rights has not settled a deal, while also referring to the author's initial complaints over Rutherford: "Why don't they just invent a new character? Then they can have their cheap fun and leave me and my creations alone." Imagine what she'd say to this news. It makes us wish celebrity mediums were real.

In the late 1920s, Agatha Christie introduced one of the most stellar older women we've ever seen -- Miss Marple. The iconic writer fashioned Marple, in part, on her own grandmother, crafting an old spinster sleuth living in St. Mary Mead. Jane Marple is an amateur gumshoe who always happened to come across some mysterious murder, and though her tweed-clad body and softened countenance might make her seem old and dotty, Jane has a killer logic and understanding of the human condition, mixed with an unshakable resolve, that helps her figure out even the toughest of mysteries.

Over the years, many women have brought Christie's heroine to life, starting with the indelible impact of Margaret Rutherford, removing the prim and proper nature of the character to create a bold old spinster. Angela Lansbury took a more proper stab with it in the '80s, and since then, Gracie Fields, Helen Hayes and Joan Hickson.